The state's decision to close shellfish beds on the North Shore due to the worst red tide bloom there in three years has dealt a devastating blow to the industry at its peak time of year and could jack up prices as worried restaurateurs go elsewhere to buy clams.
State officials have not ruled out the possibility that the microscopic algae, which contain red pigments and harmful neurotoxins, could spread farther south.
"We're hoping not," said Jeff Kennedy, regional shellfish supervisor at the Division of Marine Fisheries. "It's not typical, but it has happened before."
The division has prohibited shellfishing along the Massachusetts coast from the New Hampshire state line to the south side of Cape Ann since Wednesday, when red tide turned up in shellfish there.
The prohibition will likely remain in effect for at least three weeks, Kennedy said, because the division samples shellfish weekly throughout the season and needs three descending counts of the marine biotoxin before it reopens an area to shellfishing.
Until it does, full-time clammers like Brenda and Steve Turner of Ipswich have no income.
"How would no paycheck affect you, especially when you don't know for how long?" she said. "I appreciate what the state is doing to protect people. But we have felt robbed."
Like Ipswich, Essex is one of the state's largest producers of soft-shell clams and was closed to shellfishing as a precaution.
"I understand (officials) don't want to let clams on the market and then have to recall them," said Edward Lane, who has been a clammer there for 30 years. "But financially, it hurts. Once people hear 'red tide,' they stop buying everything."
That's why Marina "Chickie" Aggelakis posted signs yesterday at the Clam Box, reassuring customers that all of the seafood at the Ipswich restaurant she has owned for 28 years is harvested from state and federally approved areas.
"The quantity and the quality aren't affected because we're getting our clams from upper Maine, although I'd prefer to get them from Ipswich," Aggelakis said. "But I pay the top price. Every day, it creeps up."
And it's passed on to customers, who now pay from 6 percent to 8 percent more for shellfish at the eatery, she said.
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